Book Reviews : The American Legislative Process: Congress and the States. By WILLIAM J. KEEFE and MORRIS S. OGUL. (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1964. Pp. x, 498. $7.95.)
| Date | 01 December 1964 |
| Published date | 01 December 1964 |
| DOI | 10.1177/106591296401700445 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
834
several
types
of
presidential
messages,
press
conference
excerpts,
court
decisions,
and
the
like)
and
this,
I
believe,
is its
weakness.
Although
the
documents
selected
for
the
collection
are
of
interest,
I
would
find
most
of
them
less
useful
in
an
upper
division
course
than
I
would
the
readings
presented
by
Johnson
and
Walker.
Similarly,
time
factors
would
not
likely
lead
me
to
adopt
The
Presidency
in
the
basic
course.
Finally,
the
scope
of
the
Roche
and
Levy
reader
is
somewhat
limited.
The
first
part
deals
with
&dquo;The
Office
of
the
President&dquo;
and
includes
documents
dealing,
in
part,
with
recommending
legislation,
the
execution
of
the
laws,
the
use
of
the
veto,
and
the
removal
power.
The
second
part
of
the
reader
focuses
on
&dquo;The
Executive
Branch
and
Foreign
Policy,&dquo;
and
although
the
content
of
this
section
is
not
as
restricted
as
the
title
might
lead
one
to
believe,
a
wider
variety
of
materials
might
have
been
desirable.
G.
R.
FIELD
San
Fernando
Valley
State
College
The
American
Legislative
Process:
Congress
and
the
States.
By
WILLIAM
J.
KEEFE
and
MORRIS
S.
OGUL.
(Englewood
Cliffs:
Prentice-Hall,
Inc.,
1964.
Pp.
x,
498.
$7.95.)
An
addition
of
merit
to
the
growing
number
of
texts
available
for
adoption
in
upper-division
courses
on
the
legislative
process
is
Keefe
and
Ogul’s
The
American
Legislative
Process:
Congress
and
the
States.
This
volume,
as
the
subtitle
indicates,
is
intended
for
use
by
those
who
deal
with
state
legislatures
as
well
as
with
Congress.
The
preparation
of
a
comprehensive
text
was
an
admirable
goal,
but
the
product
is
less
than
completely
successful.
When
the
authors
focus
on
Congress
it
is
difficult
to
fault
the
presentation,
but
their
treat-
ment
of
state
legislatures
is
less
deserving
of
praise.
The
procedure
generally
followed
by
Keefe
and
Ogul
is
to
deal
with
a
topic
at
the
congressional
level
and
then
in
the
concluding
pages
of
the
section
or
chapter
to
examine
the
state
legislative
experience.
How
best
to
handle
data
drawn
from
a
large
number
of
states
-
but
unfortunately
not
all
fifty
-
in
a
meaningful
way
seems
to
be
a
major
difficulty
faced
by
the
au-
thors.
Quantitative
assessments
of
state
legislative
practices
are
neither
desirable
nor
possible
in
all
instances;
a
series
of
statements
describing
the
legislative
practices
of
several
states
is
often
productive
of
little
more
than
transient
interest
on
the
part
of
the
reader.
An
attempt
to
discuss
the
legislative
process
at
the
state
level
runs
into
the
old,
but
still
real,
problems
that
basic
research
has
not
yet
been
done
(except
in
a
handful
of
states) ;
is
dated;
or
is
not
really
comparative.
Because
of
these
deficien-
cies
it
may
be
difficult
for
the
reader
to
reach
any
conclusions
about
the
legislative
process
in
any
single
state,
or
about
the
legislative
processes
which
exist
in
the
states.
The
disquiet
felt
by
this
reader,
however,
is
probably
less
the
fault
of
the
writers
than
that
of
the
profession.
Both
the
publisher
and
the
authors
call
attention
to
the
book’s
intent
to
view
the
legislative
institution
as
part
of
the
total
political
system.
This
provides
Keefe
and
Ogul
with
the
opportunity
to
discuss
what
they
call
the
role
of
&dquo;outsiders&dquo;
(par-
ties,
interest
groups,
chief
executives,
courts)
in
the
legislative
process.
The
advan-
tages
of
this
approach,
as
well
as
its
wisdom,
cannot
be
disputed,
but
it
is
not
quite
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